GENEVA, March 7, 2022 — On Wednesday the United Nations voted to “deplore” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demand the withdrawal of Russian forces. Now the four states that voted with Russia and against the historic resolution—Eritrea, Belarus, Syria and North Korea—are coming under fire and will be featured at the upcoming Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on April 6.
Tatsiana Khomich, sister to the imprisoned Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava, will speak on Belarus, while Hassan Akkad, an award-winning Syrian filmmaker and former political prisoner, will address Assad’s ongoing abuses. Timothy Cho, a two-time defector from North Korea, will also discuss what drove him to flee.
These speakers will be joined by 14 other champions of human rights from around the globe, who will tell compelling personal stories of arrest and imprisonment by the world’s worst regimes before an audience of diplomats, journalists and activists.
Sponsored by a coalition of over 25 NGOs including Liberal International and Human Rights Foundation, the annual Geneva Summit will take place at the CICG in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 6, 2022.
Click here to register for the event. Participation is free, but registration is mandatory.
For media inquiries, please contact Pat Rose at media@genevasummit.org.
The Geneva Summit’s remarkable 2022 line-up includes:
Timothy Cho, North Korean human rights activist and two-time defector, who survived torture and two imprisonments before escaping to the UK where he works with the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea.
Hassan Akkad, Award-winning Syrian filmmaker who was arrested and tortured for protesting the Assad regime, and had a face-to-face audience with Bashar al-Assad before escaping Syria.
Tatsiana Khomich, Belarusian Coordination Council Representative for Political Prisoners and the sister of imprisoned opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava.
Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who ran Navalny’s campaigns for Mayor of Moscow in 2012 and his bid to get onto the presidential ballot in 2018.
Mariam Claren, Daughter of Nahid Taghavi, a German-Iranian women’s rights activist sentenced to more than ten years in prison for propaganda activities against the regime.
Hamlet Lavastida, Cuban artist and Amnesty International recognized prisoner of conscience released in late 2021 on condition of exile.
For media inquiries, please contact Pat Rose at media@genevasummit.org.
